Synedrion missions

Deadlock

Athena: You seem to genuinely be on our side, and everyone here at Synedrion really appreciates that. Please understand that we are cautious with organizations such as the Phoenix Project not because we're trying to be obstinate, but because we've had some pretty terrible experiences that we'd prefer not to repeat.

You know that I have high hopes for an alliance between the Phoenix Project and Synedrion. So my advice is this: what would be really helpful right now would be a more... direct demonstration of your support. That could really win some hearts and minds.

At this moment we have a couple of really important projects running. The sort that could actually change the future. Like improving our mist-repelling tech, which may allow us to peacefully co-exist with the new ecology. Or deploying a new breed of a modified plant to help us reclaim the planet for ourselves.

Believe me when I say we've had a lot of debates about which approach is better, and there are some pretty opinionated factions forming.

In any case we're lacking enough people to support both projects at once, and it's a bit of a deadlock. So if you could lend a hand with one of them, that would mean a lot.

PLayer choice 1: Mist Repellers could help humanity regain its balance. Player choice 2: The planet is ours, and we should take direct control of its ecosystems.

Against the mist

Triggers after choosing Player choice 1: Mist Repellers could help humanity regain its balance.

Before mission:

Athena: Zhara will be pleased to hear that. She is one of the most passionate advocates of... well, some people would say the original values of Synedrion, but it's hardly that simple. She's part of a loose coalition called the Polyphonic Tendency, which advocates solutions that reject all hierarchies, all forms of domination.

Nikolai, on the other hand... oh dear, I'm involving you in Synedrion drama aren't I? My apologies. Good luck with the mission. Site added to Geoscape: Against the Mist.

Mission briefing:

Mist Repeller technology could change the course of the war against the Pandoravirus; it could even make a kind of peace possible. But testing the tech is dangerous, and the labs frequently come under attack. We must ensure the test can be successfully completed by eliminating any potential hostiles.

After mission:

Nikolai: I'm glad you decided to help us. But I hope both the Phoenix Project and the Polyphonic Tendency can at least recognize that these attacks on the Mist Repellers aren't a coincidence. Somehow, the Pandoravirus is defending its strategic interests. Tell me, do you think we can really co-exist with something like that?

Player choice 1: Even if it's challenging, this approach is worth pursuing further. Player choice 2: The Terraformers are right: we must reclaim the planet.

Even if it's challenging, this approach is worth pursuing further

Nikolai: That's what Zhara said too. Very well. I hope I'm wrong.

Rewards:

Synedrion's attitude to Phoenix Project +5, TECH +200, MATERIALS +200, FOOD +200. Diplomatic relations with Synedrion have changed to SUPPORTIVE if reputation is higher than +25%.

The Terraformers are right: we must reclaim the planet

Nikolai: I hope that means the Phoenix Project will back the Terraformers next time, then.

Rewards:

Synedrion's attitude to Phoenix Project +5, TECH +200, MATERIALS +200, FOOD +200. Diplomatic relations with Synedrion have changed to SUPPORTIVE if reputation is higher than +25%.

Biogenesis

Triggers after choosing PLayer choice 2: The planet is ours, and we should take direct control of its ecosystems.

Before mission:

Athena: So you're more on Nikolai's side of this debate, are you? He's one of the Terraformers, the faction that believes in... well, I suppose you could call them radical humanists. They believe we should be unafraid to seize power for the people, to assert the supreme value of human life and civilization.

Zhara, on the other hand... oh dear, I'm involving you in Synedrion drama, aren't I? My apologies. Good luck with the mission.

Site added to geoscape: Biogenesis

Mission briefing:

Synedrion has produced a genetically-engineered plant that may be resistant to the Pandoravirus. If successful, this experiment could help humanity reclaim the planet by designing a new ecosystem, as favoured by the faction known as the Terraformers.

But before that can happen, the plant has to be tested in the wild. To that end, our operatives must place the seeds at the coordinates we were provided with.

After mission:

Zhara: Your help is greatly appreciated, even though it's on a project I personally voted against. I'd just like to offer this one note of caution: it was the existence of a hierarchical society built on profit and dominance that led humanity to its present state. Let's try to avoid recreating such structures.

Player choice 1: Human dominance over the ecosphere is not the same as class society. Player choice 2: The Polyphonic Tendency is right. We must learn to live on the planet, not just own it. Player choice 3: Leadership is necessary.

Human dominance over the ecosphere is not the same as class society

Zhara: Funny, that's what Nikolai said, too. We'll have to agree to disagree.

Rewards:

Synedrion's attitude to Phoenix Project +5, TECH +100, MATERIALS +300, FOOD +200. Diplomatic relations with Synedrion have changed to SUPPORTIVE if reputation is higher than +25%.

The Polyphonic Tendency is right. We must learn to live on the planet, not just own it

Zhara: I'm glad our arguments are persuasive. There is no other way to successfully reach our goal.

Rewards:

Synedrion's attitude to Phoenix Project +5, TECH +100, MATERIALS +300, FOOD +200. Diplomatic relations with Synedrion have changed to SUPPORTIVE if reputation is higher than +25%.

Leadership is necessary

Zhara: Is it? I suppose it depends on whether people like myself should be considered leaders or just representatives. I hope I'm the latter, although I know there are those who disagree.

Rewards:

Synedrion's attitude to Phoenix Project +5, TECH +200, MATERIALS +200, FOOD +200. Diplomatic relations with Synedrion have changed to SUPPORTIVE if reputation is higher than +25%.

Seeking the Firebird

Before mission:

Barnabas: You may or may not be aware that during the early stages of the spread of the Pandoravirus, several of the founding members of Synedrion were part of an organization called the Firebird Initiative, studying ways of stopping the virus. My calculations suggest that the Initiative could have significantly changed the course of human history, but unfortunately its operations were suspended after an ecoterrorist attack. Humans of that time appear to have had an irrational phobia of genetic technology, a pathology I, unfortunately, fail to understand.

We have always believed that all of the Initiative's research was lost, but we have recently unearthed evidence that suggests some of it was recovered. I'm sure you understand the immense value it could hold for our current projects.

We don't know whether the person who took the research is still alive, but we have the coordinates of his last known location. If you could help us investigate, we should consider it a major step in the furtherance of our common goals.

Mission briefing:

Our operatives have been tasked with investigating what happened to the individual who recovered the Firebird Initiative files. Unfortunately, the settlement where this individual lived appears to have been destroyed some time ago. With some luck, we may be able to retrieve a journal or notebook that could shed further light on this mystery.

After mission:

Barnabas: How unexpected. The journal seems to suggest that the research was recovered by... the Phoenix Project. I assume that you are unaware of this, presumably due to the near-collapse your organization suffered after the severe cutbacks of the early 21st century. Apparently the surviving research was stored at a Phoenix Base designated Storage Facility 4. Not a terribly inventive naming scheme.

To complicate matters, before the collapse the local government sold Storage Facility 4 to Abdon Tusk, one of the billionaires that resulted from the old political system's malfunctioning distribution of resources, who turned it into a shelter for his company. Eccentric and possibly sociopathic to begin with, he has been driven to new extremes, styling himself as Pirate King and leading violent raids on defenseless havens.

Player reply: We will deal with this would-be king. Barnabas: I calculate a 98+% chance of armed conflict resolution.

Rewards:

TECH +100, MATERIALS +200, FOOD +200. Site added to Geoscape: The Man Who Would Be Pirate King.

The Man Who Would Be Pirate King

Mission briefing:

Before the Pandoravirus, Abdon Tusk was an eccentric billionaire, best known for funding U.FO (a company selling alien invasion insurance) and his involvement in the Atmospheric Railway Disaster that left 108 people pulverized. Now he has declared himself Pirate King, raiding and looting havens with his mercenary army. Synedrion wants him stopped.

After mission:

Athena: So something has survived of the Firebird Initiative after all. Stas and Nikolai will be pleased to hear that - they founded the Initiative, you know, back in the days when our disagreements weren't tearing us apart. Strange to think of two people who love each other so much being on opposite sides. But there I go involving you in Synedrion drama again.

Athena: Now, look... anything you share with us will be shared with everyone, but there's tremendous symbolism to who you share it first. Our whole internal discourse is increasingly being defined by the Polyphonic Tendency and Terraformers, and what you choose to do may affect who comes out on top in this debate.

Player choice 1: Humanity matters most. Share with Terraformers. Player choice 2: We must heal, not dominate. Share with Polyphonic Tendency. Player choice 3: We don't do Synedrion drama. Share with both.

Athena: I'm not surprised. Some people think the Terraformers are unusual or extreme, but what they're advocating is pretty much what humanity has always been trying to achieve.

Rewards:

Synedrion's attitude to Phoenix Project +5. New Phoenix Base restored. Diplomatic relations with Synedrion have changed to ALIGNED if reputation is higher than +50%.

The Real Virus

Before mission:

Nikolai: It would appear that we have a problem - and one of our own making, at that. Synedrion has always had something of a "big tent" approach to ecological issues. Unfortunately, sometimes that tent is a circus tent, and now the clowns are revolting.

I'm sorry, I become sarcastic I'm irritated, and it's better to speak clearly: a group of anti-natalists who call themselves the Malthusian Revolt have broken away from Synedrion and declared war. To prove that they're serious, they sabotaged one of our labs, killing eleven innocent people.

Apparently, they believe that humanity is the real virus and that our techno-extractive role must come to a violent end, or some misanthropic nonsense to that effect.

Unfortunately, they blame the Phoenix Project for "corrupting" Synedrion, so they will target you as well. Be careful. This is a crucial moment, and they will do their best to derail this alliance.

Player reply: The Phoenix Project will stop them.

Mission briefing:

The radical anti-natalist group that calls itself the Malthusian Revolt believes that humanity, not the Pandoravirus, is the real threat to Earth's ecosystem. They have declared war on Synedrion and the Phoenix Project and already taken several lives. The purpose of this assault is their total defeat.

After mission:

Nikolai: So it's done. I can't say I feel sorry for them, their beliefs were just too poisonous for that. But it is a terrible business, transforming the world, isn't it? So much bloodshed. We should never get used to it. Never. There may not be a choice now, but we have to remember that the whole point of all this conflict is to achieve peace. To break out of the old patterns and seize control of our fate. The hardest task in human history, but the most necessary. I believe that this alliance between the Phoenix Project and Synedrion is going to be a big part of that. Together, we can do this. We can win.

Rewards:

Synedrion's attitude to Phoenix Project +5. TECH +400, MATERIALS +200, FOOD +200. Diplomatic relations with Synedrion have changed to ALLIED if reputation is higher than +75%.